In this compelling TedMed talk, Dr. Letourneau says, “Prevention, not punishment, but prevention is the key to ending child sexual abuse.”

Dr. Letourneau’s work is relevant to Equal Justice Under Law’s challenge to the punitive sex offender registration laws in Alabama. The Alabama Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification Act creates an impossible climate for ex-offenders, imposing unparalleled reporting requirements that are unmatched across the United States and placing punitive restrictions on travel and living arrangements. The law has caused countless Alabamans to become homeless and unemployed.

Research like Dr. Letourneau’s adds to the conversation: Do registration programs do anything to improve community safety? Her work actually demonstrates the opposite.

“My research shows that sex offender registration and public notification do nothing — nothing — to prevent juvenile sexual offending or to improve community safety in any way. Instead, these policies cause harm. We surveyed 265 therapists who treat children who have sexually offended. Almost all of them linked registration and public notification to serious harmful outcomes, like increases in shame and embarrassment, anxiety, hopelessness, fear and threats and harassment, including threats and harassment of registered children by adults. Clearly, more helpful, less harmful responses to perpetration are warranted.”

We wanted to share this video to further our national conversation about sex offender registration laws and to ask: are we — as a society and criminal justice system — doing the right kinds of things to prevent sexual abuse, or are our current policies counterproductively increasing crime rates?